The most under rated waster of strokes in golf. Old, worn, dirty, slippery grips.
I see golf bags full of squeaky clean club faces, that are meticulous cleaned groove by groove and protected by custom made wood and iron covers with battery operated heaters, that cost more than the clubs.
The head cover is removed, the club is removed from the bag and I see a grip that has been on the club since it came from the factory, when there was still an East and West Germany, with grooves worn in where the thumbs depress and slippery with hand oils and dirt.
Wanna save some strokes? After each round or before each round, take a wet towel and rub down your grips thoroughly. Then take the dry end of the towel and dry them thoroughly. You will see some nasty black grime on your towel and you may have to repeat this process several times. If they are still slippery, replace them.
I just saved a good many of you about 5-10 strokes. Slippery dirty, or old grips give you the feeling you have to death grip the club in order for it not to go flying out of your hands. That counts as excess tension and ruins more things than I can list.
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For me changing grips is an annual rite of spring. Will somebody please tell me how a driver head with multiple parts and things to tighten is going to work better than one solid one. Remember whar cars were like before unibody construction.rattle, rattle, rattle.
Another thing, how many of you people out there in Monteland keep a full set of cleats in your bag? A firm grip on the ground is essential for a powerful golf swing.
This is interesting. David Graham on Jack Nicklaus:
“Jack Nicklaus preferred leather grips on his clubs. So did a few other guys, but Jack’s grips were different. He liked the grips to get old so the leather was rock hard and shiny. They were slick as glass. Whenever I swung one it almost flew out of my hands–and I had strong hands! If you hit a ball out on the toe of those small MacGregor irons, it would sting your hands something awful. Jack has small hands that weren’t particularly strong, and how he played in the rain is anybody’s guess. I suppose his grip pressure in every finger was absolutely perfect, and he had to accelerate the club very purely just to hold on to the club. That’s one mystery Jack will take to his grave. “I love ’em like that,” he’d say, then change the subject.”
I agree with Monte. I guess there are exceptions to everything.
I’m not advocating slick & shiny grips, but the way Jack could do it was by having a centrifugal release, like Monte says.
He maintained his grip (no re-gripping through the swing) and each hand held the club equally throughout his swing.
If you held a club, and had somebody facing you a bit more than a club-length away, and asked them to tug on your club and try to pull it from your hands, it wouldn’t be that easy.
The grip is shaped like a cone, so pulling it from your hands would mean pulling it through all of your fingers. They don’t spread apart that easily, to let the fat end through.
If the story is true, Jack could hang onto his clubs because he had a centrifugal release. And, maybe his interlocking grip had something to do with it too.
Just think how good he’d have been if he changed his grips!
About 6 weeks ago I bought a small kit off of e-bay for changing grips. I think it was about $40. I already had a small vice.
Also got a set of new Golf Pride grips for less than $2 a piece.
It’s very simple to change em. I used to spend around $80 but no more. Now I won’t let em go so long before changing them either.
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This post makes me chuckle about one of my golf buddies. He still has the same grips on his set of Mizuno MP33’s that he bought 7+ years ago (probably more years than that…I forget how long those have been out). Those replaced a previous set that he had used for so long that he actually had indentations in the grips from his fingers. His Yonex driver had the top of the grip (where he put his left thumb) completely worn through to the graphite! He is the anti-club ho. He buys a set and uses it, grips and all, until it is completely worn out.